The Golden Arrow (1962 film)

The Golden Arrow (L'Arciere delle Mille e Una Notte) is a 1962 Italian peplum film directed by Antonio Margheriti.

Synopsis
Damascus is governed by the fierce tyrant Baktiar, who will be forced to give up his throne once his daughter Jamila is married. As Jamila falls in love with the mysterious Hassan, Baktiar will try in every way to prevent their marriage.

Cast

 * Tab Hunter as Hassan
 * Rossana Podestà as Jamila
 * Mario Feliciani as the tyrant Baktiar
 * Umberto Melnati as Thin Genie
 * Giustino Durano as Absent-Minded Genie
 * José Jaspe as Sabrath
 * Renato Baldini as Prince of Basra
 * Dominique Boschero as Queen of Rocky Valley
 * Gloria Milland as Queen in the cave
 * Franco Scandurra as Bearded Genie
 * Renato Montalban
 * Gianpaolo Rosmino as Mokbar
 * Claudio Scarchilli as Bandit

Production
Filming took place in Egypt and at Titanus Studios in Rome in late 1961 and into 1962.

Tab Hunter later recalled in his memoirs: "Not being able to speak Italian wasn't a drawback. The script of La Freccia d'Oro - my copy was the only one in English - featured page after page of truly horrendous dialogue... All I could think of was Tony Curtis in The Black Shield of Falworth (1954): 'Yonda lies da castle of my fadda.' I spend every night in my hotel, rewriting my lines so I'd at least have fun delivering them. I camped it up shamelessly. Not that it mattered - all my dialogue was eventually dubbed by a stiff-as-a-board Italian baritone with no sense of humor. I ended up sounding like Rossano Brazzi. Disappointment over being stuck in a stinker was eased considerably by weekly infusions of cash, delivered personally by the production manager. I'd sign a voucher and he'd hand over a bundle of lire, some of the old notes as big as place mats." Hunter added, "Considering what he had to work with, Antonio Margheriti wasn't a bad director. He worshipped American movies and didn't seem to care how lousy the material was, as long as he could follow in the boots of his boyhood idols."

Release
The Golden Arrow was released in Italy on September 7, 1962. It was released in the United States in May 1964.

The film was not a box office hit and cost so much money it almost bankrupted Titanus, the production company.

Hunter recalled, "We tried to make script improvements, through an interpreter, but at a certain point I just gave in and accepted that there was no pony under the pile of shit. La Freccia d'Oro's overextended budget ended up sinking Titanus, at least temporarily. "

Reception
From contemporary reviews, an anonymous reviewer in the Monthly Film Bulletin noted that the special effects and trick photography were "of unusually variable quality-distinctly poor in the Egyptian city episode, though spectacular enough in the fiery cavern with the flaming men." and that "the film suffers further from a lack of dash, and from Tab Hunter's weak playing of the hero."

Variety said the film "owing to its lack of dramatic cohesian and rather unimaginative creative approach to the wide open possibilities of special effects spectacle" was not likely to match the box office success of MGM's Captain Sinbad. The reviewer said "Hunter is okay but he does a lot of grinning and gaping."

From retrospective reviews, the author of the book Il grande cinema fantasy described the film as "a typical adventure B-movie, especially interesting for its fantasy elements, which is damaged by the presence of comic elements that do not bind enough with the rest." The film still gained recognition for sporting particularly elaborate sets and costumes.